Migration to Medina – Under the Cover of Night
In any case, there are different narrations about what time the Holy Prophet (sa) left and they vary; some narrations state that the Holy Prophet (sa) left in the early part of the night, whereas others state that he left in the middle of the night, and some state that he left in the last part of the night. Nonetheless, I will present the different narrations about what time the Holy Prophet (sa) left the house.
According to one narration, the Holy Prophet (sa) left his house in the last third of the night. Regarding this, Muhammad Husain Haykal writes:
“Owing to the heedlessness of the idolaters, Prophet Muhammad (sa) left in the last third of the night and made his way towards the house of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra). From there, both of them left from the back door of his house, and travelled south towards Cave Thaur.”
(Hayat-e-Muhammad, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, pp. 223-224, Vol. 10, Hijrat-e-Rasul, Dar-ul-Ma‘arif)
In another narration, it is mentioned that he left in the middle of the night. In Dalail al-Nubuwwah, it is written that the Holy Prophet (sa) and Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) left for Cave Thaur in the middle of the night.
(Dalail al-Nabuwwah, Bayhaqi, pp. 465-466, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2002)
In Madarij al-Nubuwwah, it is mentioned, “When the Holy Prophet (sa) decided that he would migrate the next morning, that evening he said to Hazrat Ali Murtaza, may Allah honour him, ‘Sleep in my bed tonight, so the idolaters do not get suspicious and learn about the plan.’”
(Madarij al-Nubuwwah, Sheikh Abdul Haq Muhaddith Dehlvi, Urdu translation by Ghulam Muin-ul-Din Naimi, Vol. 2, p. 83, Shabir Brothers, Urdu Bazar, Lahore)